Mercy Ingraham "is a hearth cook, the culinary equivalent of one of those Revolutionary War re-enactors, and it is her conviction that the invention of the stove, while it's sure saved wood, has not been without its drawbacks."....On September 13th, Mercy invites you to join her over an open hearth, as she kindles memories from the first days of our 1780's Federal manor, and teaches this very special cooking class on preparing historic food atop the windy hill at Howard Hall Farm. The class will be followed by a signing of her new book, which will be available to purchase after the class. Lunch and dinner are included!

· We shall prepare an assortment of dishes, and then consume them. While we are cooking over the fire, there will be lots of time to talk about the principles of cooking, and the techniques that were used by fire-cooks in the past."

· We will create an historic, harvest-focused meal on the open hearth, with locally inspired and historically appropriate produce, and all food will match the era of the house.

In addition to eating the lesson, each student will take home copies of the recipes and a bibliography of great books for further study.

mercy

House of Fire

Unless I've missed some significant advances in quantum mechanics, it is not yet possible for the average historic home-owner to travel back in time and take digital
photographs of the past, but last Saturday we did the next best thing.
We invited Mercy Ingraham, The Open Hearth Cook to visit us here at Howard Hall Farm. Completely clothed in Federal garb, Mercy Ingraham arrived on the steps
of our Federal Home looking like she had just emerged from a Vermeer
painting to teach us how to cook on our recently restored historic hearth.

*Note the similarity:

Wearing Dutch linens and bearing an armload of iron and brass cookware, she lit a roaring fire, and proceeded to charm the hell out of all of us. She is a fascinating and intelligent woman, and one of the most incredible teachers we've ever had here.
The workshop was filled with people from vastly differing fields, yet they all had some strange tie to historic buildings, so we all had plenty to talk about. We met a lot of incredible people. Clothed by references to rare films and literature, historic images, and odd chemistry facts (ex: ash+ saliva= lye, which I almost learned the hard way), Mercy gave us a treasure-trove of information....and as far as I'm concerned, it was the very best kind of knowledge: The sort you can eat afterward!

*******************************************************************

Among other things, we made and had:

Shirley Plantation Mushroom Soup (which was so delicious it was gone before I could take a picture),
String Roasted Chicken (Literally: it was roasted by hanging from a string),
Southall Cabbage Pudding, Ember-Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Yam Pudding,
Dover Cake, and more....

****************************************************************

Mercy just finished her latest book, and
signed copies for all of us after the class.

For all of you who were here, thank you
for making this weekend such a
scintillating experience. And Mercy,
you are truly a wonder. I can't think of
a better way to have brought the light
and life back to our hearth. For the first
time in probably a century, this house
had a blazing, open fire and good company
to enjoy it. I hope you'll all come back soon.

*******************************************

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If you participated in this workshop, and have pictures,
please send them to us!
We'd love to add them to our collection...
howardhall.farm@gmail.com

To view a complete listing of our 2008
classes and workshops: CLICK HERE

Labels: hearth cooking, HISTORIC WORKSHOP, mercy ingraham, pictures

Nov. 1

Mercy Ingraham invites you to join her over an open hearth, as she
kindles memories from the first days of our 1780's Federal manor, and
teaches this very special cooking class on preparing historic food
atop the windy hill at Howard Hall Farm. The class will be followed by
a signing of her book, which will be available to purchase after the
class. Lunch and an early supper are included. You won't go away
hungry!

"It is November 1780. The farm has harvested its crops, and we have
been preserving food for the winter. We are enjoying the cold weather
crops - cabbage and the root vegetables. We might also be
slaughtering, (depending upon the weather) and therefore would be
making sausage to use all the meat, and in order to preserve it. We
shall prepare an assortment of dishes, and then consume them. While we
are cooking over the fire, there will be lots of time to talk about
the principles of cooking, and the techniques that were used by
fire-cooks in the past. We will learn soup, roasting, baking, stewing
and grilling, and all food will match the era of the house. In
addition to eating the lesson, each student will take home copies of
the recipes and a bibliography of great books."

The workshop fee is $100.. Class begins at 10 in the morning, and
lasts until 3. (Please let us know if you have any food allergies or
are a vegetarian.)

mercy2

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